This invention relates to an airborne refuse compactor and more particularly to a refuse compactor employed in the pressurized cabin of an aircraft, relying on such pressurization to effect the operation of the compactor.
Capacity of passenger aircraft has increased dramatically over the past thirty years. It is not unusual for some airlines to be equipped to carry a passenger load in excess of five hundred persons, whereas loads in excess of a hundred passengers are a common occurrence, perhaps as many as thousands of flights a day throughout this country and the rest of the world.
While many flights are short in duration, three or four hours or less, in which only snacks may be served, many flights are of sufficient duration as to require the service of at least one meal to each of the passengers. On other flights, regional, coast to coast, and international in nature, two or more meals and/or snacks may be served. In addition, much of the equipment used in meal service is made from paper or plastic material designed to be discarded as part of the trash, refuse or garbage resulting from such service.
At the present time, such refuse is generally collected in plastic bags and stored aboard the aircraft until the flight terminates at which time they are removed for disposal. These bags are bulky and at the very least they represent an inconvenience to the crew and passengers as they become filled and their numbers accumulate during the course of the flight.
On lengthy flights, with large passenger loads, especially when there are multiple servings of food, the problem does become acute, so much so that it is not unusual for one or more of the multiple lavatories aboard to be used as rooms for the storage of the bags. This of course results in further inconvenience for those aboard the aircraft. The net effect is that valuable space aboard such a vehicle must be dedicated for such use.
One way of dealing with this problem is to provide a compactor aboard the aircraft to reduce the volume of the refuse which must be stored. The operation of such a device, however, does present certain problems which have not yet been adequately overcome. In addition to space, weight is also an important factor. Electric power for actuating such a device requires that the electrical system of the plane be redesigned to accommodate the tremendous power drain due to such a load. In addition, the compactor itself, employing one or more electric motors and mechanical devices for effecting the compressing action which are bulky and heavy, must be accommodated.
The use of a hydraulic system has been proposed, but this requires additional plumbing and heavy hydraulic equipment to operate the compactor.
The current state of the art is illustrated by several patents dealing with trash compactors. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,855 there is provided a unit which utilizes household water to operate a hydraulic ram to obtain the force necessary to compact the refuse. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,835,767, 3,835,769, 3,899,967, 4,070,962, and 4,183,295 all utilize air pressure to obtain compaction but rely on pumps of one type or another to produce the vacuum necessary to have the devices function. In the first two Peterson patents, springs are employed to retract the pressure plate after compaction. The Powers patent relies apparently on wall stiffness to return the container to its expanded state. The third and fourth Peterson patents are double-acting but use pivoted pressure plates and are designed to be emptied by trash collection vehicles equipped with handling apparatus. None provides for the removal of liquid content of the trash, and some do not have disposable receptacles. They all are relatively complex devices, heavy in construction, and not suitable for use aboard an aircraft.